Friday, 1 June 2012

This week I went to London to catch the end of Jamie McCartney’s solo show Skin Deep at the Hay Hill Gallery
in Cork Street. After writing about Jamie’s Great Wall of Vagina a
couple of years ago, I was excited at the prospect of seeing the
finished work of art in person.

Thursday, 17 May 2012

…between eroticism and pornography, they think that they are the same thing!

So, in this post I want to take a closer look at, what is meant by erotic art, how you might define it and if it is possible to distinguish it from pornography.

Earlier this year I paid a visit to a couple of different exhibitions, both of which were marketed as promoting and selling erotic art. The first exhibition I saw was the ‘Art Erotica’ in January of this year, arranged by Cork Street Open Exhibitions and following that, I went along in February to the exhibition ‘Erotikkens Kunst’ (The art of Eroticism), arranged by Bettina Sinnet Fornitz owner of Gallery Eros. In both of these shows the organizers felt compelled to distinguish and differentiate between art and pornography, perhaps in order not to discourage those who do not like pornography or disappoint those who do. The art that was chosen to go on show for both the exhibitions reflect just how wide the range of art is which is displayed in the name of eroticism.

One of my favorite recommendations to people is to use erotic art to
spice up their lovelife. Erotic art of a more or less explicit nature
can serve as a visual reminder and provide exciting inspiration for your
lovelife.

But I am not in the business of merely encouraging others to actively use erotic art, I make sure I follow my own prescription. So, recently I bought a couple of new art works for my bedroom art collection.

Are you curious what sexy pictures I bought for my bedroom? Well, I’ll let you in on the secret …

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

This post is about the astounding work of artist Cecelia Webber.
Webber works with both acrylics and experimental digital photography,
but it is first and foremost the experimental photography that makes her
a unique artist.

What do I mean by unique? Are all artists not unique? Well, all
artists of course have a unique human personality but it is much harder
to find a new visual language in which to express personal vision and
ideas. Standing out as a unique artist by finding a unique artistic
method and style of expression and making a new contribution to the
world of art is arguably one of the greatest challenges an artist faces.

Although the aim of art is to explore and to present cutting edge
visions and ideas there are still a lot of mediocre artists around who
do not fulfill this aim. Likewise there are thousands even hundreds of
thousands of photographers in the world today working with art
photography.

Some photographers approach their medium with the primary goal of
mastering its complex and scientific techniques, do so and go on to
produce masterful and technically perfect pictures. But mastering the
complex techniques of photography does not mean that you can call your
work art and indeed many ‘art photography’ pictures are devoid of
artistic vision or emotion.

Yet in spite of this it is also evident when you come across a truly
talented artist who uses photography as her or his medium. Webber is one
such artist. and her work is interesting because she experiments with
photography and digital manipulation in order to express her artistic
vision.

In art historical terms artists would traditionally use a medium the
likes of oil, acrylics, watercolour, pencil, pastels etc. applied to
canvas, board, paper etc. With the advent of the digital age comes the
possibility and rise of digital art.

Whereas art traditionally has been based on an artist’s
draughtsmanship i.e. his ability to sketch draw and paint by hand, the
creation of digital art instead relies heavily on an understanding and
use of digital media. So whereas you might define traditional art as
based on an individual’s draughtsmanship presented on a canvas, digital
art is based on an artist working with digital manipulation of
information presented in a digital format.

The interesting thing here is that the photo and imaging editing
software used in order to digitally manipulate information opens up
possibilities for an artist that is not otherwise possible. This means
that artists can start exploring and blazing new trails in artistic
terms and that is exactly what Webber is doing with her experimental
digital photography art work.

The experimental art of Cecelia Webber.

Webber's digital art is at the cutting edge because she creates a
balance by linking the digital medium with the sensual aspects of the
natural world.

Purple Flower (Flowers series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

The appeal of these art works is immediate. A quick glance at them
provides the viewer with a charming and colourful impression. Look more
carefully though and you’ll discover the layered shapes of the naked
human body making up the form of the flower or butterfly. Surprising but
also sensuous and graceful these images leave you with a delightful
feeling of wanting more!

Webber’s Flowers and Butterflies series.

Webber has chosen to work with two different themes so far for her
experimental photography series, one called Flowers the other
Butterflies.Blue Lilac is from her Flower series and is a perfect
example of how you may not see the human form that makes up the petals
of the lilac at first glance.

Blue Lilac (Flowers series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

White Dandelion is another imaginative example of Webber’s
artistic approach. Here she creates a stunning visual resemblance of the
delicate flower we all know so well. But the real charm of this image
is in the single white puffy seed flying away cause it takes us back to
those childhood days where blowing on a dandelion and seeing the seeds
fly away was a source of endless joy.

White Dandelion (Flowers series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

In most of Webber’s works you do not see the complete naked human form. In Webber’s work Rose
however, she breaks up and uses the naked female human form to make up
the stem and crown of a rose but also depicts an intact naked female
right at the centre of the rose. Apart from pointing to the source of
her work, much like a painter might smear a thick layer of paint on a
canvas with a spatula, seeing a whole naked female in the centre of a
flower also draws parallels to a well established tradition of linking a
delicate flower with female sensuality.

Rose (flowers series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

Sprouting Seed is another ingenious work of Webber’s that shows
her artistic depth. Webber has again used the female form to create her
scene of a sprouting seed seen both above and below ground. The image
clearly references the link between the female and that of fertility and
germination. And of course we all know that new life is generated
through the union between male and female.

Sprouting Seed (flowers series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

I also want to briefly mention and show Webber’s work Bird of Paradise because here she uses a male model instead of a female model to illustrate the flower with stunning visual effect.

Bird of Paradise (flowers series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

As visually stunning as the Flower series but perhaps more complex is Webber’s Butterflies series.

Monarch and Vivid are both complex images of
colourful butterflies made up of the human form. When you look closely
at the images you can clearly see the naked human forms that unify to
create the image of a butterfly but in Reach, Webber’s image of a caterpillar hanging off a twig, it is much harder to distinguish the human form.

Monarch (butterflies series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

Vivid (Butterflies series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

Reach (Butterflies series) - Copyright of Cecelia Webber

Webber has produced a number of works but not a single one that I don’t really like. I would strongly urge you to explore Webber’s website and particularly encourage you to look at Marple, Yellow Lily, Summer Dandelion, Bell Peppers, Fiddlehead and Bleeding Heart.

To purchase one of Webber’s works please contact jared@ceceliawebber.com

Interview with the Cecelia Webber:

Erotic Art Lover: Cecelia, where did you get your inspiration for the Butterfly and Flower series?

Cecelia Webber: I enjoy the challenge of making something beautiful and simple looking out of the complicated shape of the human body.

EAL: You have previously remarked on the importance of the human body: “Why
are we made to feel so ashamed of the human body in Western culture and
so much of the rest of the world? Isn’t the body a beautiful, wonderful
thing, deserving nothing less than to be celebrated?”. If your images are a celebration of the human form why have you chosen to illustrate other creatures of nature?

CW: I
want to distract people from the nudity a little, so that it can be
better appreciated. I want people to see the body in a new way. It’s
hard to get people to really look at something in detail, and I think
that the complexity of the pieces allows people to look closer at the
body without feeling self conscious doing so. It’s different than
looking at a nude portrait. Also though, I just enjoy making the pieces
that way, and that’s the biggest reason why I do it.

EAL: What gave you get the idea of using the human body to create the form of butterflies and flowers?

CW: I
once took a nude portrait of my back for another project, and it looked
so much like a petal that I dropped the first idea and started working
on this one right away.

EAL: What visual image should a viewer of your work pay more attention to, the human body or the flower or butterfly?

CW: It’s
an aesthetic series, made – from my perspective – largely for the
experiences I get out of making it. People can choose for themselves
what to focus on, depending on what they find interesting about it.

EAL: I think people are often unaware of the complex
and time-consuming process behind a digital work of art. Can you
explain a bit about your work process for making a piece like Monarch
from the Butterflies Series?

CW: Sometimes
the pieces take up to two months to produce – first I shoot all the
poses involved, edit them out of their background, which is very time
consuming, then I go and shape the composition, at which point I often
realize I need to reshoot one of my poses. I am currently in the process
of remaking old pieces I made with a lower quality camera, and to
remake them even is a huge, time-consuming challenge. I’m happy when a
finished piece looks simple to the viewer though, because that means
I’ve done my job right. It’s not easy to make something shaped out of
human body photos look simple.

EAL: You sell your print mounted between clear
acrylic on the face and black acrylic on the back. What is your reason
for not letting your clients make their own choice regarding how they
feel the print should be framed?

CW: There
are a lot of complications with selling limited series. As the artist,
I’d like my work to be accessible to anyone however they want it, but as
somebody hoping to live off of art one day as a career, I have to
standardize to a certain extent to cope with the nature of the art
world. Basically, my art is limited edition art work. For something to
be considered a limited edition, you have to specify what is limited,
how many there are, and what kind of things they are. I also want to
offer posters, but if I was to now I’ve been told it would compromise my
limited edition work and mean I can’t sell my art in most galleries.
It’s far more complicated than I want it to be. In the future I will
offer selected works at an affordable price point so everybody who likes
my art can own it, and that is something that is being actively worked
on at the moment.

EAL: Can you tell us about your next project or series?

CW: It will involve birds

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I hold two degrees in Art History. My first degree was an M.A. with Honors from Glasgow University and my second degree is a Cand. Mag. in Art History from Copenhagen University.
I have been involved with art on a professional level since I finished my first degree in Scotland in 1999. My work experience with art includes; painting, sculpture, objet'd art, ceramics, antiques, craft, design.